Cinematheque Blog

D.W. Griffith's silent epic INTOLERANCE shows with live piano accompaniment! On Saturday at 7:15 pm we open our series "Artists of the Silent Screen" with a rare showing (with live musical accompaniment) of D.W. Griffith's 1916 masterpiece INTOLERANCE , hailed by Pauline Kael as "perhaps the greatest movie ever made." Griffith's silent epic-an impassioned plea for universal peace, justice, love, and understanding-was made partly in response to the accusations of racism sparked by his previous spectacle BIRTH OF A NATION. INTOLERANCE tells four parallel stories set in four distinct historical periods. The most famous recounts the fall of ancient Babylon and features colossal sets. Another focuses on Jesus and the Pharisees. The third exposes the persecution of French Huguenots during the 16th century. The last details the conflict between capital and labor in 20th-century America. Griffith intercuts among the storylines in virtuosic fashion and builds to a thrilling climax. The all-star cast includes Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Erich von Stroheim, Constance Talmadge, and Tod Browning. We will show a color-tinted 35mm print. Joseph Rubin , a silent film musician based in New York who founded the Lillian and Dorothy Gish Film Festival, will provide piano accompaniment. Sam Shepard is Butch Cassidy in speculative Western BLACKTHORN Sam Shepard plays Butch Cassidy in Mateo Gil's new Western BLACKTHORN . The movie imagines that Cassidy did not die with the Sundance Kid in Bolivia in 1908. Living out his years as James Blackthorn, a horse dealer in a small Bolivian village,he decides to journey to the U.S. to see his family before he dies. But along theway he falls in with a young outlaw (Eduardo Noriega) for one last criminal escapadeThis handsome, elegiac Western was directed by the Spanish screenwriter of OPEN YOUR EYES, THE SEA INSIDE, and AGORA, and also stars Stephen Rea. The San Francisco Chronicle calls BLACKTHORN "a different kind of Western-somber, reflective and set in the elevated plains and salt flats of Bolivia." Catch it in a 35mm color & scope print on Friday or Saturday. Print this post and present it at the box office and see BLACKTHORN for only $7 ($5 if you're a Cinematheque member). It's our Deal of the Week! (Limit two discount admissions per print-out) John Turturro's audience favorite PASSIONE celebrates the music of Naples Naples, Italy has been a musical melting pot for centuries, and PASSIONE , the romantic, rapturous new movie by actor-director John Turturro, celebrates the city's many songs and singers. Turturro guides us through 23 beautifully filmed musical numbers in this crowd-pleasing film that The Wall St. Journal calls "a must see?the BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB of Naples." It returns to the Cinematheque, by popular demand, on Friday and Sunday. Anthony Mann returns with non-James Stewart 1958 Western MAN OF THE WEST Anthony Mann, the director of the five superb James Stewart Westerns we showed in November and December, made six other classic oaters during his illustrious career. It was the genre in which he excelled ("Mann of the West"). 1958's MAN OF THE WEST , his next-to-last Western, is regarded by many as the greatest of them all. Gary Cooper stars as a reformed outlaw pressured to rejoin his old gang for one last bank robbery. Lee J. Cobb and Julie London co-star in this unsparing allegory of lawlessness and civilization that was one of the 100 movies written about in Danny Peary's original Cult Movies. Peary called it "one of the cinema's harshest portraits of the West?Contains psychotic killers, a morally ambiguous hero, and a very liberal dose of sex." When Jean Luc-Godard reviewed it in the 1950s, he wrote: "I have seen nothing so completely new since-why not?-Griffith Anthony Mann is redefining the Western." Don't miss this rarely revived classic in a 35mm color & scope print on Saturday or Sunday. Here's the original trailer. Patrick Wang, writer/director/star of IN THE FAMILY, to appear in person on Jan. 12 Patrick Wang, the writer-director and star of the acclaimed indie drama IN THE FAMILY , will appear in person to answer audience questions about his Independent Spirit Award-nominated movie after the 6:45 pm screening on Thursday, January 12. This will be the film's Midwest premiere. (The movie shows a second time, without Mr. Wang, on Saturday, January 14 at 8:30 pm.) Here's the trailer. FILMS THIS WEEK Sam Shepard as Butch Cassidy BLACKTHORN Fri., Jan. 6, at 7:00 pm Sat., Jan. 7, at 9:40 pm John Turturro's crowd-pleasing Neapolitan music film PASSIONE Fri., Jan. 6, at 9:00 pm Sun., Jan. 8, at 4:00 pm Gary Cooper in Anthony Mann's MAN OF THE WEST Sat., Jan. 7, at 5:00 pm Sun., Jan. 8, at 2:00 pm Joseph Rubin accompanies D.W. Griffith's INTOLERANCE Sat., Jan. 7, at 7:15 pm FILMS NEXT WEEK Filmmaker in person on 1/12! IN THE FAMILY Thu., Jan. 12, at 6:45 pm Sat., Jan. 14, at 8:30 pm MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITE Fri., Jan. 13, at 7:30 pm Sun., Jan. 15, at 4:30 pm LE HAVRE Fri., Jan. 12, at 9:15 pm Sat., Jan. 14, at 6:35 pm Sun., Jan. 15, at 7:50 pm SEVEN CHANCES Sat., Jan. 14, at 5:15 pm Sun., Jan. 15, at 6:30 pm preceded by Melies shorts The Cinematheque The Cleveland Institute of Art 11141 East Boulevard Cleveland, OH 44106 Phone: (216) 421-7450 http://cia.edu/cinematheque